Personal Solutions will be beta testing a new hardware/software product "ElectronaCheck" developed for consumers, during the month of October. Plans are to have initial production in late November of this year. The ElectronaCheck device is no vaporware concept, this product has already been placed in the hands of consumers for reaction and focus group feedback. The product will replace of the consumersí normal checkbook cover with a small plastic device like a PDA, and will be used with paper checks; however, it is at this point that the product and concept become magical.
By pushing one of only a few keys on the ElectronaCheck, the consumer can see their running bank account balance, and tell the device the next check number and amount that is being written, as well as enter deposits and adjustments. The consumer will then write their checks as usual, and ElectronaCheck will store an electronic image of the payee and amount so that a subsequent software upload can create a carbon copy of each check written. In addition, categories of expense may be maintained and the device has a key to push for debit transactions, so they may also be decremented from the bank balance while the consumer is shopping.
All of these events will be uploadable to various personal management software applications like Quicken, or Microsoft Money, with categories intact, through an infrared communications port. The company has a significant investment from VeriFone, a Hewlett-Packard subsidiary, which has also taken a seat on Personal Solutions board.
Now before the product name or description makes you think that this device is too check-centric in its design, imagine also, that another key will allow the consumer to keep track of their credit balances, and a tip key to calculate and add the tip to a bill. Overall the ElectronaCheck has function keys for check, deposit, withdraw, card, tip, balance, cancel, calc, clear, and enter, and can basically handle all transactions that a consumer may have.
Myles Suer, Founder and President of Personal Solutions notes, "Our consumer research found that consumers want to know their balance before transactions are originated, not after." Suer further noted that in the focus groups conducted by Personal Solutions, consumers found ElectronaCheck to be intuitive in use, which means the product does not need to change consumer habits to be successful.
In addition to being an interesting consumer product, the opportunity also exists to have the ElectronaCheck communicate with ATM devices allowing the bi-directional exchange of information on checks and debit transactions completed by the consumer, and those cleared by the bank, providing what is essentially electronic check book reconciliation. This in turn creates an opportunity for banks to develop new products and consumer interaction. Of course, it is also another way to leverage the ATM infrastructure that is already in place, and provide cheaper and new services to bank customers.
I can see this device becoming a storage location for retail frequent-shopper or loyalty-point balances, getting such plastic cards out of the consumerís wallet, while perhaps communicating these events directly to the retailerís in-store system through infrared transmission. Infrared keyboard devices built by HP or POS devices built by VeriFone, an HP company, would perhaps facilitate this communications step. In fact, imagine being able to facilitate bank-to-bank electronic check presentment; however, without paper-to-follow because the paper is replaced with an electronic carbon copy transmitted with the settlement. This could describe the smarter smart card, loyalty management system, and ECP input device, all rolled into one.
For more information, Personal Solutions, in Danville, California, can be reached at (925) 831-0515.
